U.S. Economic Growth Breaks Record at 33.1%
Posted on 10/29/2020
The U.S. economy expanded at a record-setting pace in the third quarter as businesses reopened from the coronavirus (COVID-19) shutdown. Gross domestic product (GDP) skyrocketed by 33.1% on an annualized basis in the three-month period from July 2020 through September 2020. This is coming off the worst quarter in history – a 31.4% plunge in the second quarter, which is attributed to a lockdown of businesses and organizations due to COVID-19.
For example, the previous post-World War II record was a 16.7% increase in 1950.
The U.S. Department of Commerce calculates the GDP on a quarter-over-quarter basis as if that level of growth were sustained for a full year.
“After releasing his plan to reopen America safely in April, President Trump remarked that prior to the Coronavirus pandemic, the United States had ‘built the greatest economy anywhere in the world . . . and we’re going to build it again,’” the White House Council of Economic Advisers writes.
“This morning’s release of U.S. GDP for the third quarter of 2020 from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) affirms President Trump’s statement . . . GDP grew 7.4 percent (33.1 percent at an annual rate) in the third quarter, the largest single quarter of economic growth on record and roughly twice the prior record of 3.9 percent.”
